North County tourism bureau to outsource its marketing

In a move to consolidate promotion of local hotels and attractions, the tourism organization serving North County announced Friday it will turn over marketing duties to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The planned changeover, which has not been finalized, will result in the layoff of 12 staff members, said Jack Jacobs, chairman of the San Diego North Convention and Visitors Bureau. Unaffected, he said, will be the bureau's executive director, Cami Mattson.

The move to subcontract the bureau's marketing efforts was driven by the San Diego nonprofit that provides a large share of its funding -- the Tourism Marketing District.

Formed three years ago by a coalition of hoteliers to boost tourism, the district generates funds through a 2 percent surcharge on hotel rooms within the city of San Diego.

The San Diego North Bureau, which this year is expected to receive $2.7 million from the marketing district, had been promoting tourism throughout North County, not just within northern San Diego.

"San Diego North had a number of cities represented, including Carlsbad and Escondido, some of which put some dollars into the (bureau), but so many hotels that were benefiting were not San Diego hotels," said local hotelier Robert Rauch, who is a marketing district board member. "So the TMD wanted to make sure that our return of investment is optimized for San Diego hotels."

Funding that goes to the San Diego North Bureau will now be transferred to the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau, and that money will be used to promote the roughly 40 hotels from La Jolla to Rancho Bernardo, between Highways 52 and 56, Jacobs said.

"Our area has unique attractions to offer travelers," he said. "And we need to make sure our story gets told with the biggest bang for our buck."